Spinnerbait!

[Swamp Girl]

I was going to fish a bog, but as I was passing a pal's pond, I decided to drive less and fish more. I'm glad I did because I caught 49 bass this morning and some quality fish too. Here are a couple pushing four pounds. They were caught back to back. The first gave me a quite a fight, tiring me, so when I hooked her twin on the very next cast, I was tuckered, but I managed to land her too. The first bass ran behind my canoe's stern and I had extra rods sticking out beyond it, so I had to make sure my rod and the extra rods didn't cross. Then I had to extricate my net from the extra rods in the front. So, when the second bass hit in the middle of a lily pad field, I thought, "Not again!" However, I kept the rod high, which helped, and for whatever reason, she swam out of the lily pads. Whew!

 

 

Anyone who reads my trip reports knows that I don't fish a lot of different lures. This morning, I decided to try two new lures: a spinnerbait and jig. The spinnerbait caught most of my fish, including my big one, which you'll seen a ways down. Here are a couple spinnerbait bass.

 

 

Using the spinnerbait was easy because my main lure is an underspin. A spinnerbait is just an overspin and with the exposed hook, I landed far more bass than I do with my underspin. However, I'll continue to use the underspin for pitching into heavy cover. Here's another fine fish, also nearing four pounds:

 

 

I caught a lot of smallmouth too.

 

 

A long bass!

 

 

Spinnerbait smallie:

 

 

More lmbs of various shapes:

 

 

Then the spinnerbait really produced. I cast parallel to a shaded shoreline about ten feet out and the girl below hit. A lot of times with bigger bass, I feel like I barely land them. I didn't feel that way with this girl. She was powerful and pulled hard, but I felt in control the entire time, largely because I hooked her far enough off-shore to have some water to play her. There were weeds under me, but not that mat of weeds I find closer to shore. I could feel the weeds pinging as she plowed through them, but there weren't enough to mire and free her. Shortly after this, I lost my Terminator spinnerbait to a pickerel. However, I had a wonderful morning and now I'm confident with a new lure. She's a bucketmouth, huh? Thick jaw too. The photo is a little strange because I raised my camera to capture her full length. 

 

 

I also caught my first bass on a jig, but didn't stick with that because they wanted flashier, noisier lures. My Whopper Plopper and Choppo outproduced my Rapala Skitterpop and wakebait. My two-bladed spinnerbait outproduced my one-bladed underspin. I did catch a couple bass on a pumpkin green worm as a follow-up lure. I'm probably the only BR member to have not caught bass with a spinnerbait before today, but if you haven't used one, do! Unless your screen name is @TnRiver46.

 

Lastly, I'll never know for sure, but I think I might have caught a 20-lb. bag. Four were close to 19 inches long or 19 inches, which is close to four pounds on my chart, and the big girl was over five pounds. However, I think about @A-Jay surpassing 30 pounds with smallmouth earlier this year and I know a certified 20-pound bag would have been nice, but it's not the be-all and end-all. 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Nice bass!

 

And I caught a stray…….

 

you could catch fish with your car keys 

[Mike L]

Great Job!

Again!

 

 

 

 

Mike

[gim]

Love a good spinnerbait bite.  Its a top producing lure for this guy.

 

Catches way too many pike though

[Susky River Rat]

I enjoy using spinners. Sometimes they are hot sometimes they are not. I also do not catch 40 fish a day lol. 
 

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

I’m going to need some pike next week but I can only take 40 lbs of gear including tent, food, and all. And my hooks have to be barbless and only taking a small 2 piece spinning rod so I don’t think spinnerbait will make the trip 

[Swamp Girl]

11 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Love a good spinnerbait bite.  Its a top producing lure for this guy.

 

Catches way too many pike though

 

It was a dang mini-pike/pickerel who took my lure. However, before that, I caught a four-pound pickerel, which is good-sized for Maine. Before this morning, I used spinnerbaits in Canada for pike and musky, so I'm familiar with the lure. I asked the BR guys if I could troll one. They said, "yes," so I did and it worked as well as casting. I hate to not be fishing when I'm paddling to a new spot. 

 

6 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

And my hooks have to be barbless and only taking a small 2 piece spinning rod so I don’t think spinnerbait will make the trip 

 

Are you going to Quetico?

 

8 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

I enjoy using spinners. Sometimes they are hot sometimes they are not. I also do not catch 40 fish a day lol. 
 

 

 

 

 

My spouse tells me to stop telling people that they'll catch 40 bass in a morning if they go fishing with me.

 

"They won't," I'm told. "They'll catch ten. Maybe 15. And they'll watch you catch 40." 

[TnRiver46]

Isle royale 

[Swamp Girl]

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Isle royale 

 

Lucky duck.

[pdxfisher]

Great report! I remember using my first spinnerbait more than 50 years ago. It was called a one-eyed Jack.

[LrgmouthShad]

I think Jimmy Houston once caught a bass on a spinnerbait.

I might have just the thing for you in Maine.

 

Nice fishing!

[GreenPig]

Excellent. Another arrow in your quiver. The spinnerbait is a great lure.

[casts_by_fly]

On 7/15/2024 at 11:00 AM, ol'crickety said:

I was going to fish a bog, but as I was passing a pal's pond, I decided to drive less and fish more. I'm glad I did because I caught 49 bass this morning and some quality fish too. Here are a couple pushing four pounds. They were caught back to back. The first gave me a quite a fight, tiring me, so when I hooked her twin on the very next cast, I was tuckered, but I managed to land her too. The first bass ran behind my canoe's stern and I had extra rods sticking out beyond it, so I had to make sure my rod and the extra rods didn't cross. Then I had to extricate my net from the extra rods in the front. So, when the second bass hit in the middle of a lily pad field, I thought, "Not again!" However, I kept the rod high, which helped, and for whatever reason, she swam out of the lily pads. Whew!

 

 

Anyone who reads my trip reports knows that I don't fish a lot of different lures. This morning, I decided to try two new lures: a spinnerbait and jig. The spinnerbait caught most of my fish, including my big one, which you'll seen a ways down. Here are a couple spinnerbait bass.

 

 

Using the spinnerbait was easy because my main lure is an underspin. A spinnerbait is just an overspin and with the exposed hook, I landed far more bass than I do with my underspin. However, I'll continue to use the underspin for pitching into heavy cover. Here's another fine fish, also nearing four pounds:

 

 

I caught a lot of smallmouth too.

 

 

A long bass!

 

 

Spinnerbait smallie:

 

 

More lmbs of various shapes:

 

 

Then the spinnerbait really produced. I cast parallel to a shaded shoreline about ten feet out and the girl below hit. A lot of times with bigger bass, I feel like I barely land them. I didn't feel that way with this girl. She was powerful and pulled hard, but I felt in control the entire time, largely because I hooked her far enough off-shore to have some water to play her. There were weeds under me, but not that mat of weeds I find closer to shore. I could feel the weeds pinging as she plowed through them, but there weren't enough to mire and free her. Shortly after this, I lost my Terminator spinnerbait to a pickerel. However, I had a wonderful morning and now I'm confident with a new lure. She's a bucketmouth, huh? Thick jaw too. The photo is a little strange because I raised my camera to capture her full length. 

 

 

I also caught my first bass on a jig, but didn't stick with that because they wanted flashier, noisier lures. My Whopper Plopper and Choppo outproduced my Rapala Skitterpop and wakebait. My two-bladed spinnerbait outproduced my one-bladed underspin. I did catch a couple bass on a pumpkin green worm as a follow-up lure. I'm probably the only BR member to have not caught bass with a spinnerbait before today, but if you haven't used one, do! Unless your screen name is @TnRiver46.

 

Lastly, I'll never know for sure, but I think I might have caught a 20-lb. bag. Four were close to 19 inches long or 19 inches, which is close to four pounds on my chart, and the big girl was over five pounds. However, I think about @A-Jay surpassing 30 pounds with smallmouth earlier this year and I know a certified 20-pound bag would have been nice, but it's not the be-all and end-all. 

 

 

 

 

As you've found, spinnerbaits are a pike or pickerel magnet.  That said, of all the baits to catch incidental toothy critters on a spinnerbait is probably the best because of all of the metal that stays close to their teeth.  

 

Spinnerbaits are also a good big bass lure, especially in the spring and in stained water.  With the cover you have, I'd keep a spinnerbait rigged all of the time.  You've been using an underspin for forever now and can see that while both work, sometimes the fish have a preference.  Throw a swim jig and chatterbait into that same mix.  the swim jig and underspin are a little more subtle, the chatterbait and spinnerbait a little more loud underwater.  They can largely cover the same water and I couldn't tell you how many times I'll have all four of them tied on at the same time.  Keep swapping between them and figure out the days that the fish want which one for you.  

[Swamp Girl]

34 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Keep swapping between them and figure out the days that the fish want which one for you. 

 

Thanks for all the clear coaching above. I am so comfortable swapping lures. As I've shared many times, I'll land a bass on one lure and immediately switch lures to see what else they'll hit. 

[Functional]

@ol'crickety If you wanted to try fishing a jig but they want something flashier you could try fishing a chatterbait like a jig. That blade on the front would move some water and give a flash.

 

Personally I prefer the excitement of spinners/chatters/swimbaits and the hits they bring but nothing says you cant fish a bladed jig like a jig. 

[Swamp Girl]

Here's another photo of my big girl with the spinnerbait clearly in her mouth:

 

 

[Pat Brown]

Spinnerbait caught me my first very big LMB and it sorta kinda changed the whole game for me.  I threw them when they weren't cool and I throw them still now that they're cool again and I'm sure I'll throw them still more when they're uncool yet again.

 

The fun thing is they just work and they definitely catch a big bass!  😎♥️👍🏼🎣

[Swamp Girl]

I'm just grateful you guys don't ask me anymore how big my bass are, that you've accepted that I like to hurry them back to breathing again. 

 

@Pat Brown: I must admit that I feel pretty silly for not pitching a spinnerbait before this. I ordered six more and they arrived this morning, so I'll one on my line again tomorrow morning when I fish for 3.5 hours.*

 

 

*Shorter trip because of the new pup. 

[casts_by_fly]

18 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Here's another photo of my big girl with the spinnerbait clearly in her mouth:

 

 

 

 

Its not hanging in her mouth, but you can see it on the deck of the boat by her tail.  She was a 4+  (4-08 I think?) last spring when my dad came out.  Beautiful fin perfect specimen of a fish.

 

 

Other critters like them too.

 

[LrgmouthShad]

8 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

ordered six more

What did you order

[Choporoz]

I always have a spinnerbait tied on.  But it is rarely the first thing I throw.  Wind is almost always a factor in my decision to use one.  It is rare for me to use a spinnerbait if it is slick calm.  There are rare times when I want to cover calm water fast and there is random stickups, laydowns or submergent grass, and I'll use a spinnerbait as I speed down the bank or flats.  

   Wind factors come from two a couple unrelated vectors.  One, I think that light broken by waves makes the shiny blades much more effective.   Two, as much as I love bottom contact fishing, it can be much easier to fish a spinnerbait in windy conditions.

  If my t-rig or jig gets hit when I'm winding back to make another cast, I take it as a strong sign that I need to throw a spinnerbait (and/or crank or chatterbait). 

Spinnerbaits banging wood are so effective....and come through surprisingly well.

   A couple/few times every year I am shocked and pleased to get a spinnerbait slammed the exact moment it hits the water....I mean not even time to fall beneath the surface....and somehow, that often happens in six inches of water or less.  I rarely target such a spot, but just planning to pull across a nearby log or something....I probably should spend a little more time throwing spinnerbaits very tight to the bank

Last week....too windy for plastics.   She hit a twin side-by-side that I've really been liking this year

[Swamp Girl]

39 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

What did you order

 

Later model stainless steel Terminators. I still have two of the Titanium Terminators, but considering I already lost one of my three to a pickerel, I'm in no hurry to tie on the other two. 

 

Beauties, @casts_by_fly and @Choporoz!

[gim]

This topic has come up more than once here with the original Terminators.  I still have about 10 of them, 6 in the original packaging.  Durability is unrivaled.  They withstand assault after assault from pike when other brands don't.  I do occasionally have to change out the skirt after it gets shredded though, which I can live with.

 

Black has been my best color the past 3 seasons (not pictured).

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Do you want my address, @gimruis? Since you clearly have no use for your Terminators, I'm happy to take them off your hands and free up space at your end. 

[gim]

36 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I'm happy to take them off your hands and free up space at your end. 

 

That's what the last northern pike said after it snipped me off too.

 

Eventually, the titanium frame just snaps.  Then the whole setup is gone.  But it won't bend or kink like a steel-framed version will which often occurs after one or two pike try to destroy it.

 

My biggest largemouth of the season was caught on a black spinnerbait in late May when it was raining.